TGCF Revised Version Afterword by MXTX

Since I kept seeing snippets of this, I wanted to read the whole thing for myself. I'd already bought the book on JJWXC and did an MTL for this. It's so wonderful that she's back and sharing new things and that the revised is finally done! - Tawny --------------------------------------------- The author has something to say:

Seeing the small red clay stove again.

———— Afterword of "Heaven Official's Blessing" 2022

■ Finally done!

Long time no see! It's another afterword starting with "finally." Without further ado, seasoned readers would know that I make substantial revisions. For instance, scenes like the Bai Feng Mountain Hunt and the ending recognition of Sizhui in the serial version of "Mo Dao Zu Shi" were not originally there.

The revisions in "Heaven Official's Blessing" are the most extensive of all my works. It was a huge project, as it is also the longest in terms of length, serialized over eight months. Due to poor health and other reasons, the revision process was interrupted for a long time before I picked it up again, and it sporadically took about five to six months over several years.

In the era of web novels, there are endless new entertainments, and honestly, not many people re-read a story. Plus, some problems in the serialized version are structural and can't be changed, but I still tried my best to address my regrets. After all, when I was serializing it, I was almost always in a feverish and sick state, barely pushing through. Additionally, I often enjoy comparing different versions of my favorite authors' works back and forth, finding pleasure in the process. So, for readers, discovering "Wow, this part has changed!" is like starting a new journey with Easter eggs in a second round.

■ The new revised version includes about 100,000 words of new content!

These 100k words are mainly concentrated in the latter half of Volume 1 and Volume 3, but there are plenty scattered throughout the text. For example, I fulfilled a promise to A-Hua, giving him several new outfits. Seeing A-Hua dressed beautifully in a new hairstyle to meet his gege made me happy.

In terms of the intensity of revisions, personally, I feel it goes like this:

Volume 1 and Volume 2 > Volume 3 > Volume 5 > Volume 4.

Additionally, the new version cuts some redundant words and plots that weren't very meaningful. However, I tried to keep all the original interactions between Hua Lian as complete as possible. If some minor interactions are missing, they weren't deleted but moved around.

■ One day, I suddenly dug out something.

An antique from 2017, a folder called "Heaven Official's Blessing Setting Collection."

Curiously, I opened it and read with interest.

● Comparing the original setting outline and the main text, the highest fidelity is in the main storyline between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian.

A-Hua, restored at a ratio of 1:100.

Hua's character setting is the most detailed, and virtually every point made it into the main text, including details like "ghosts don't like the sun, so Hua Cheng sometimes drapes a red cloth over his head"...

Points not used, listed a few:

As a child:

· After being saved from falling off a city wall, he foolishly followed a parade over and over again, grabbing people to ask, "Who is that? Who is that person?" People told him, "That's the royal son, the future Celestial God, the most outstanding Crown Prince of Xianle Nation ever!"

(This point couldn't be used because in the text A-Hua was held in the Crown Prince's arms after being saved)

· At home, he was often punished to stand or kneel, not given food, and wore old clothes, accused of stealing money. Whenever he argued with his family, he would stubbornly sleep in the Prince's temple overnight.

· Went to Mount Tai Cang to volunteer sweeping red leaves at Huangji Observatory, just to sneak peeks at his future wife happily swinging.

After becoming the ghost king:

· One of his hobbies is buying and building houses everywhere.

· Very protective of his leather boots, would (badly) polish them until they shone.

· To other devout followers of Xie Lian, he said: "You have good taste."

· Secretly prepared many betrothal gifts for his beloved god, wanting to marry him!

The character setting of Xie Lian as a teacher in the serialized version compared to the initial draft, the serialized text subtly differs. The initial draft was more... exquisite and elegant, very serious. The serialized text is more... humorous. I think perhaps because some plot points were tragic, Xie Lian thought he should be happier to make the readers more relaxed, so he drove me to adjust his mental state! But due to the spiritual oppression at that time, the character's depth was not enough, while in the new revised version, I hope he can show a more self-content state on the same core basis.

Excerpts from the unused original setting:

· Super easy-going. Easy-going means: if given fifty bucks, he would happily dress in drag and dance. Accepts haggling. Thirty bucks works. Twenty bucks too!

· The observatory is small, the house is broken, wants to grow flowers. Leaks during rain, so he uses a bucket to catch rainwater.

· Because he can't afford a caretaker, he cleans himself, and also feeds chickens. Chickens eat flowers. Keeps a cat.

· Completely engrossed in discussing serious matters, he unknowingly finished all the broken sweet dumplings!

● Water, Earth, Wind original setting:

The highest fidelity is the main line between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian, followed by the Water, Earth, Wind subplot.

The main conflict hasn't changed. Just... how could the original setting of Water, Earth, Wind be so dark and terrifying!

The character morals in the main text improved a lot, otherwise, the original Black Water would be sheer scheming + murderous! The ending for the Wind Master would have been more tragic.

The Venerable of Empty Words suddenly became an improvised character. It seemed like an ancient fable-like monster, making the main text more interesting than the original setting.

Overall, the formal version is a bit better written than the original draft.

● The unfortunate life of Lang Ying:

Lang Ying? Is there such a character? I don't remember!

Ah? It seems there was such a person, but I don't remember any of his plotlines.

This is most people's feeling towards the character of Lang Ying. It's not a delusion because he barely had any significant plot. In fact, any valuable scenes could have been replaced equivalently, so in the new revised version, I deleted this character.

But, in the 2017 setting collection, I suddenly found that I had actually opened a separate document for Lang Ying, and his role was defined as a "growing-type BOSS!"

I was silent.

And immediately opened the document, curious about my initial setting. A "growing-type BOSS," how did he become someone whose deletion went unnoticed...? (I even don't know how to address him!)

Who knows, perhaps out of excitement, I accidentally pressed the wrong shortcut, and somehow it became irreversible, leaving only an empty document for me to stare in disbelief. The once "growing-type BOSS" has now forever become a mystery!

This is the unfortunate life of the deleted Lang Ying.

· There was another document in the setting collection called "Swordsmith." I opened the document and read it with interest.

I was shocked. Because I completely forgot I had conceived this story. Why didn't I write it?!

Darn.

I know why I didn't write it. This story... it had no ending!

——————— Thus, the magical glimpse into the "Heaven Official's Blessing Setting Collection" concludes!

■ I like men with stories!

Maybe because I watched an outstanding work as a child. It was a memoir, the protagonist in the biography was gentle and affable, and the protagonist in the memories was cold and ruthless. The story was scattered with the poignant fragrance of white plum blossoms amidst bloody and stormy circumstances.

This almost perfect work deeply influenced my aesthetics, leading me to be most interested in the memory parts of characters in various works. Although many viewers prefer the present scenes, often asking when the memories will end, I actually find these intense and painful memories to be the most fascinating!

A story is the history of a character, as well as the key to their personality. A person with a story stands before me like a puzzle. The way to solve this puzzle is to understand their story. Because the biography makes one curious to know more about a character they like, loving them more now because of their past. When serializing "Heaven Official," my greatest pain initially was telling myself, "This time I don't want to write a memory slaughter," deliberately trying to avoid a structure similar to previous works, yet I still hadn't found a better way to express it, resulting in my deep dissatisfaction with the later part of Volume 1. I was also hesitant to fully commit to the memory scenes in Volume 2, and with the heavy mental burden, this part was very painful to write. When revising, looking at Volume 2 was almost unbearable, because I'm the type of person who, as a child, would immediately switch channels when a TV show's protagonist was about to be wrongfully accused or embarrassed. I couldn't help but knock on a friend's door and ask:

Me: Was the author suffering some kind of mental trauma at the time? This negative energy is too horrifying, the protagonist is so pitiful, I really admire anyone who could read through Volume 2 completely.

Friend: Do you even have the right to say that?

But the memory slaughter in Volume 4 was much freer, written in one breath, so the revisions for this volume were also the least.

So, will you still write large segments of memory slaughter?

Um, well, we'll see, haha, hehe...

■ Closing Remarks:

Lastly, I'll address the question some asked me, "Will the new revised 'Heaven Official's Blessing' be more torturous?"

Me: You're talking nonsense. 'Heaven Official's Blessing' is a sweet pampering story, thank you!

Acknowledgments:

Shi Nai'an wrote in the preface to "Water Margin": "On snowy nights, about five or six people listen to my storytelling; on rainy days, about seven or eight; on bright and sunny days, about ten. I read, everyone listens, and we are all happy, with no other thoughts." When I read this as a young person, I was delighted. What divine days! Writing first to entertain oneself, then to entertain others. Self-expression and self-acceptance are certainly primary, but the affection of others is also a significant positive feedback. Thus, first, I thank the steadfast readers who have accompanied me all this time. I've thought about just walking away amidst the noisy disputes; abandoning the account amidst the tumultuous world! It seems not bad. But looking back, I can't bear to leave some truly sincere readers.

I've had authors I liked disappear from the internet, and I always feel like a part of my youth has vanished, a feeling quite distressing, reminiscent of overly grand and harsh things like the tears of the era or the torrent of history. So, I want to accompany my readers as long as possible, hoping that the day of parting comes later. Perhaps I'm not good enough now, but I will strive to be better in the future. Or perhaps you've never truly understood what kind of person I am, or even completely misunderstood me, but as long as you genuinely like my stories, we can sit down and chat.

And, I must mention my friends, who can be described as having the courage of a hero. Long time no see, Teacher Changyang's illustrations are still as beautiful as those of a celestial being, I hope Teacher CAS can go to bed earlier and worry less, and Teacher Kuohao, who despite a heavy workload, still fully honored our agreement. The "Heaven Official's Blessing" radio drama is really fantastic! It reminded me of the original intention of writing this story, and I was very moved. If it weren't for the silent companionship and efforts of these old friends, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu might have stopped writing back in 2016, disappearing from the world of martial arts, and thus, "Heaven Official's Blessing" would not have been born. I look forward to retracing the paths we once walked together when gathering ideas. And many friends who reached out to help and encourage me, thank you for accompanying me through the snowy nights.

Morally grey has lost its meaning in MDZS fandom for a very long.

Any characters would get slapped the "morally grey" label now, especially if they dared to do some actions that are unconventional or they simply go against the social norms that condone atrocities.

It is quite frustrating when they do that. When fandom calls Wei Wuxian morally grey, I've noticed that they tend to do quite a few things.

I can't think of anything else they did, but so far, most of these are the main issues that lead to Wei Wuxian being "morally grey." Fandom's favourite moments of 'morally grey' Wei Wuxian always comes back to his torture of Wen Chao and his gang, his actions during the war, his cultivation in general and how he interacts with the dead, Qiongqi Path and the death of Jin Zixuan, and not to mention their most favourite Nightless City incident. And I'm not even going to mention some of the other adaptions 😅.

i just finished reading the yi city arc and maaan it made me cry so bad. The arc already made me sad, but the novel version hits the absolute hardest. I feel like other adaptations of MDZS don't really capture the same feeling of being inside of a-qing's mind during those flashbacks.

She was so fucking scared, but she was so brave. She was literally having a panic attack after witnessing xue yang kill a man, but she still went back to try and get xiao xingchen away from the danger, and even came back after running despite being scared out of her mind to make sure that he would get away safely too.

Even after being murdered, she still hung around the area with the guy capable of destroying her soul just so that she could ward people away and keep them safe. She did everything she could to make sure that no one else would meet the same fate as her.

AND she sacrificed her soul to take him down. Even while still being so scared of him, she guided lan wangji to xue yang so that he would finally face consequences for what he did to her and so many others.

mdzs chap 42

He was an idiot to underestimate her. She may have just been a small street kid with no cultivation or physical strength to speak of, but she was the strongest character in this entire arc.

Yi city arc is about her journey. Also, she is the "IT" girl and way more badass than the majority of the characters in the novel.

The fact this fandom focused more on that radioactive rabid rat XY instead of A-Qing makes me so bitter.

There is nothing emotionally touching about Jiang Cheng "saving" Wei Wuxian from the Wens and not saying anything about that because he blamed Wei Wuxian for the consequence of that "saving".

So to then make art about that and romanticize it, is actually gross when we have the literary mirror of Lan Wangji doing just that as well and not expecting or wanting Wei Wuxian to feel he's indebted to reciprocate or make up for what Lan Wangji did of his own volition.

While to then try to act as if Jiang Cheng is so noble and misunderstood and lost Wei Wuxian because of Lan Wangji being mean.

Anyways in a turn of irony from that other take this one sums it up with an award for actually knowing how to understand context. Thank you @ahecktonoffandomsinoneblog

I do honestly think people wildly conflate overarching "good morality" to a puritanical intolerance and I'm specifically referencing Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian regarding this little phenomenon because they are the moral compass in their respective plots, which is supported heavily and reiterated throughout the novels literally, thematically, and by MXTX through her supplemental notes, afterwords and multiple interviews asking for these clarifications she repeats. At the simplest it's hypocritical when people try to argue points to their supposed flaws or "mistakes" that are never really considered flaws and mistakes in, and made, by Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian to begin with, and are crafted as such by fandom to elevate and absolve one of the characters shown to have wronged them.

For Wei Wuxian his creation of gui dao was suspicious therefore making him "mentally unstable" and at fault for the judgement, paranoia and jealousy of others. For Xie Lian it's his upbringing as a royal made him ignorant of actual suffering, his privilege is the flaw and his underlying kindness wasn't genuine and at fault for the judgement, paranoia and jealousy of others. These arguments are ad hominem, it discredits their own character as well as victim blames to say they are the cause for what happened circumstantially, literally and brought it upon themselves. Because these are generalized flaws anyone can possess, we can circumstantially turn them into their flaws and name what mistakes they made.

Wei Wuxian is a troublemaker and was known to be one, it makes sense why he is later reputed to be dangerous and reckless, so Jiang Cheng's jealousy of him was understandable. In turn that means, he shouldn't have protected the Wens, Wei Wuxian is the hypocrite not understanding the position Jiang Cheng was being placed in. This is despite foreshadowing in their youth to Wei Wuxian protecting Jiang Cheng from the consequence of reprimand, from him not telling Jiang Fengmian the reason as to why his leg was broken due to running away on threats of Jiang Cheng and verbal disparaging, to being the one to punch Jin Zixuan for insulting Jiang Yanli, Jiang Cheng's own sister, because he had less of a political repercussion, and taking beatings from Madam Yu for the same actions Jiang Cheng participated in willingly.

Xie Lian does disparage himself on his potential naïveté, and the ignorance his life as a royal made him arrogant early as chapter six, originally thinking that Hua Cheng's deduction of Jun Wu being cruel is the thinking of a child, and those who made mistakes (of arrogance, ignorance and abuse of power) needed punishment. Even when he ascends it is after the disparagement of the prologue that initially seems to attest to the Prince of Xianle being demoted and fallen (literally and metaphorically for his own kingdom) due to his own arrogance. That apparent arrogance justifies Mu Qing and Feng Xin's, his very well known prior comrades, apathy and disdain, because they washed their hands of him to rise above his mistakes and are seen as renowned gods for centuries. Yet we are given multiple arcs that begin to show that Xie Lian was actually very kind and very gracious in the face of ridicule, suspicion and condemnation, that Mu Qing and Feng Xin participated in or inadvertently allowed due one being jealous and the other unsure, and ultimately incorrect.

The commonality here is that those that disparage them, are arrogant, hateful, jealous, ignorant, narrow minded and conform to the very things that Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian cannot be silent to. Fandom begins to then say those that misjudged, slandered, or demeaned Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian purposely, were actually reasonable and the ones who were misunderstood instead, they had good intentions themselves and meant well. They also had their reasons, and Wei Wuxian and Xie Lian would he the villains instead, if it were any other story or writer. Due to this, Xie Lian and Wei Wuxian cannot be morally upright, especially if "I" can reason I think those that did wish ill and did act with ill intention, as reiterated by the novel text, because I understand the antagonistic perspective, I am manufacturing unintended sympathy by casting my life experience as a defense.

With this cast of personalization, it can now be used as a deflection of the ad hominem used to claim Wei Wuxian were always without morals, their perceived mistakes, that are textual red herrings for emotional entertainment of the audience, are actual flaws of their characters that goes against authorial intention that was meant to be processed by the audience. They are not actually allowed what is usually accepted as human nature flaws, because to be morally upright is to be without basic human trait. It is not Morally Conscious, it's Moral Superiority because the flaws reflected in those with ill intentions and morally lacking, are what I potentially see in myself l, I cannot be a bad person, even if I have gone against the moral conscious to the work.

Wei Wuxian's and Xie Lian's actual good and kindness is reduced to an other explanation of ill intent. Divorced of their moral reflection intended, to explain why the antagonistic forces of their life were actually not in the wrong, they meant well, they did it all out of love, of fear, of care to others despite the many literary mirrors existing between the exposition of side characters reflecting the injustice and manufactured manipulations the antagonists participated in, some of them with very apparent and disturbing glee or violence. This glee is reasoned as a normal reaction that any other person would react with, despite the original point to show how this is not meant to be seen as anything other than disturbing when it follows after an action or background character event that could have been seen an opening to instill empathy.

To want empathy for these antagonists is to discredit the intended empathy the author made and justifies for her own protagonist as well as a emotional guilt tripping that is condemned tactic the writer reiterates through her various circumstances she sets up through her novels.

Bro absolutely COOKED with this.

If you ever hear the phrase "fascism is aesthetics as politics," that's what this post is talking about.

It's not about being tough on crime, because the absolute toughest most brutal measure you could take against "crime" as a social problem is to alleviate poverty, and increase access to education, healthcare and social mobility.

It's about performing "tough on crime" as an aesthetic by enacting violence against a prop, i.e. minorities and the impoverished, who are fetishized and objectified to represent "crime." They are brutalized as punishment for crime, but never with the purpose of alleviating the problem of crime.

This is why a lot of conservatives and other right wingers can get straight up angry when you suggest things like reform or social measures to reduce crime. They don't want crime to be reduced, they want an eternal war against "crime" because it provides an arena for the righteous to demonstrate virtue by brutalizing their enemies.

It legit bothers me that in both the donghua and live action drama adaptations of MDZS they go out of the way to make Wei WuXian innocent of Jin ZiXuan's death.

They make it a murder. A plot of someone elses where they just make it look like Wei WuXian did it.

In the drama there's a second demonic flute player nearby controlling Wen Ning.

In the donghua they set up special arrays to make resentful energy pool and focus on Wei WuXian - essentially causing a resentful qi diviation.

The donghua doesn't do it quite to the degree the drama does, but it still shifts blame and fault for Jin ZiXuan's death off him.

And that's wrong for the story.

Wei WuXian thought he had complete control over the resentful energy. That no matter what he'd never have an accident or slip up and that hubris let him walk straight into doing just that.

He got over emotional, over enraged in a fraught, heated moment (as he has the wool ripped off his eyes and realizes the invitation he'd been looking forward to, the reunions and meetings and a good time of food and drink he'd not been able to enjoy for years now was a lie - even if Jiang Yanli and Jin ZiXuan meant it sincerely, no one else in the Jin clan did), and for a moment his control slipped and Wen Ning, who he'd been controlling strikes out blindly at someone who happened to be standing near Wei WuXian.

The influence of the resentful energy gets the better of him and he makes a reflexive kill-strike when he's upset and already in the middle of a fight and realizes too late it's the last and only person on the battlefield he DIDN'T want to hurt and who wasn't even trying to hurt him.

That is so, so, vitally important to his character growth and also his relationship to Lan Wangji.

When he's summoned by Mo Xuanyu, he's a Wei WuXian who now has unfortunately lived-experience to fully understand and comprehend how Lan Wangji supported and tried to help him all along because his warnings came true - over indulging and over relying on resentful energy and over trusting the stability his own, all-too-human emotions and control under it's influence did finally lead to disaster.

There is always a price to pay for reaching too far with resentful energy and Wei WuXian was not an exception like he'd thought he was.

He's fully absorbed that lesson in his 13 years dead and it's part of how he's come to be so at peace and ready for Lan Wangji's love and all the things that are revealed.

Being a blunt instrument that was effected by someone else is Wen Ning's story and arc.

One of Wei WuXian's arcs pre-death is realizing too late and in the worst way possible that his limitations are lower than he thought and taking that away makes him not really Wei WuXian.

Got a couple of replies of people arguing against my point. I don't even know what one to reply to so:

Wei WuXian said he had absolute control of his new cultivation (which he was inventing and therefore was untested) and that nothing would ever happen no matter what and believed that. Acted on that.

He was then thrown into a fraught situation and something happened.

The worst thing happened.

He killed the one person he specifically didn't want to kill because his overwhelming emotion made it impossible to maintain control of his cultivation and he struck out when he didn't mean to. He warned Jin ZiXuan off, yes, but he never actually meant to kill him. He did anyway. It was a terrible, terrible accident based in his loss of control.

Jin ZiXuan's stupid action to lunge at him was not what I was talking about. That absolutely was stupid of him, but is beside the point.

Lan Wangji's journey of breaking with tradition when it counts is beside the point.

Wei WuXian's ability to control it after the timeskip is very beside the point because he's got a golden core to stabilize him again and doesn't need to rely exclusively on his new cultivation and he isn't in any deeply emotionally fraught battles.

The point is Wei WuXian thought he had absolute control of a cultivation based in deep emotion, and specifically negative emotion, (even in extreme situations) and he very much didn't.

His cultivation in and of itself isn't bad - that's not part of my argument.

My argument is it was hubris to think he could control it absolutely while wielding it in any situation, even when enraged and the donghua and drama take that away by making it someone else's fault he lost control on Qiongqi Path.

He was wielding a flamethrower and insisting he and no one else would ever get burned. He was wielding a shotgun with his finger on the trigger and insisting it would never go off and hurt himself or anyone else.

Wei WuXian was extraordinary in a lot of ways, but he was just a man.

He was always susceptible to emotion and an eventual loss of control. His insistence he wasn't is what made that loss of control inevitable.

He wasn't to blame for the Path being a setup or Jin ZiXuan getting impatient and trying to disarm him and his anger and betrayal is understandable and logical, but his lost control of his cultivation is what ultimately killed Jin ZiXuan despite his own wishes and good intentions.

It wasn't an outside force making his cultivation go haywire.

It wasn't someone else taking control of Wen Ning.

It was Wei WuXian's loss of control because he was too angry to keep himself in check despite his extraordinary skills and experience in battle and cultivation. It was a mistake, but he was not blameless and innocent, a fact he readily accepts and adapts to post-resurrection.

That's the tragedy of it. It never would have happened if Jin ZiXun hadn't ambushed him and the Jin's hadn't tricked him. He didn't mean it and never would have killed Jin ZiXuan, but he lost control because he thought too highly of his control and never properly accounted for it.

Instead of listening to Lan Wangji in the past, who was able to see that this danger was inherent in such an emotionally based cultivation, he insisted on believing this larger-than-life concept of himself that he could always be in control, and paid the price for it.

Yes, Lan Wangji didn't have all the information (that Wei WuXian had no other choice in his cultivation) and was over-worried in some ways (because Wei WuXian's style of cultivation did not affect him as deeply as prior alternate cultivation paths did others), but his core argument was absolutely correct. There was no way Wei WuXian could have absolute control over something so dangerous and volatile all the time.

After dying he absorbed that lesson and came to a more holistic, fully rounded understanding of his cultivation and himself and the limits of both. He became able to see how Lan Wangji alone saw him as just a man and was trying to help him all along, forming a good basis for their relationship.

Wei WuXian can't have that arc or that fully-rounded understanding of himself and his cultivation in truth if the blame is shifted to someone elses deliberately evil mechanizations and he never did anything wrong.

Yeah but 1) Lan Wangji’s core argument wasn’t correct, because it was about how “resentful energy harms the body and mind” and therefore the ghost path was wrong. His premise about the dangers of resentful energy on the body was correct, his flat application of it to any use of resentful energy was wrong, especially since the cultivation world then moves on to using tools that utilize resentful energy. He doesn’t know how the ghost path works, it’s just a more blatant usage of resentful energy than he is used it. 2) Where in the novel does it say that a golden core “stabilizes” someone who uses resentful energy, cause I think the Nie and their infamous qi deviations would like to know that. 3) Incorrect that he wasn’t in any emotionally fraught battles: he fights Jiang Cheng in the Jiang ancestral hall and is so distraught he qi deviates. If any loss of control causes him to lose grasp of the ghost path, specifically, then why doesn’t this? Why didn’t the three-year war in his first life?

3) On further explanation, I think I actually do mostly agree with your point, I just don’t like the “lost control” argument when it applies to the cultivation, itself. Your analogies with other weapons works against your point, here, as a flamethrower isn’t starting on its own, just like a gun isn’t shooting without someone pulling the trigger. Anyone wielding a weapon is in control of it, whether skilled or not. To insist that using the ghost path in his first life is the equivalent of his finger always being on the trigger ignores that he has been in other high stress situations where—because he had other options of defense open to him or someone with actual sense deescalated the situation—he didn’t have to resort to calling forth the death to protect him. Wei Wuxian was not always wielding the ghost path, just like carrying a sword on him is not the same as having it out and ready to fight. I can, however, come around to it being hubris for him to think that he could always control his emotions and never be affected by anything (and he says as much post-resurrection). He lost control of the situation and of his emotions, but he’s still in control of the ghost path even if he loses control of himself.

This is what I meant by my initial response, too, that I agree what we lose something with the adaptations because they show him as losing control of the ghost path, not the novel. Wen Ning does exactly what Wei Wuxian wanted him to do in that moment: defend him. Wen Ning didn’t go off script, and that’s why Wei Wuxian wages against “the knife” (Wen Ning) taking the punishment for something he the wielder made him do. At the same time, though, had Wei Wuxian had a sword and not Wen Ning (in an imaginary world where he could still use a spiritual sword at that moment), do you really think Jin Zixuan would’ve lived? If Wei Wuxian had stabbed him to death with another weapon, would we be speaking on the “inherent dangers” of that weapon type? Is Qiongqi Path about the ghost path and its “inherent dangers” that Wei Wuxian was “too arrogant” to take seriously, or is it that he felt he could keep himself and others safe by safeguarding against all things, only to discover that he is wrong because he cannot predict the actions and stances of other people?

You're making some of the same arguments with different language here.

First: Lan Wangji never said a flat "any application of demonic cultivation is wrong", he said continued, repeated, exclusive use is - which is what Wei WuXian was doing. He wasn't always aware Wei WuXian was cultivating not demonic but a ghost path - something separate - so his argument was a bit off-base, but he wasn't wrong about being steeped in resentful energy having a negative effect on the users mind and body with prolonged use.

The moments he steps in, the moments he infamously argued publicly with him and earned them a reputation as enemies, are when Wei WuXian was either about to go too far in some way or fresh from the battle when he should have cleansed the resentful energy rolling off him away to avoid negative consequences.

Just because he's using resentful energy in a different way doesn't mean resentful energy's drawbacks and dangers completely disappear.

Second: Wei WuXian plus a golden core wouldn't need to use resentful energy exclusively, so that would give him a stabilizing separation from it that would mean it no longer affected him as much.

The Nie path is an entirely different topic.

Third: The Ghost path isn't inherently evil, but it is inherently using resentful energy, which is full of negative emotion, and Wei WuXian is a man who can be swayed by that. He had control in a lot of situations, but in an emotionally charged battle where he did have his finger on the trigger so to speak, he over-trusted his control and accidentally killed Jin ZiXuan when he only meant to defend/block instead of make a full attack.

I never said he wasn't in other emotionally fraught battles.

My argument is that the very fact he had been in many other high-stress situations and come out the other side in-control speaks to how much control he lost on Qiongqii Path.

Wei WuXian lost control of himself and what he was doing with his cultivation because he was so overwhelmed with anger that was amplified by the resentful energy he was using. His cultivation didn't CAUSE it, but it contributed in escalating his rage to the point he killed when he didn't mean to - something he never did before or after that.

Shifting the analogy to swords, he carried the sword of resentful energy all along and had skill and deftness with it most of the time, but his emotions got the better of him and instead of swinging with precision he made a wild cut and hit someone he didn't mean to with force and lethality he never intended, but his "sword" isn't an inanimate object.

His cultivation path is steeped in resentful energy - a deeply emotional, semi-willful outside force that has an inherent risk and danger of losing control he refused to acknowledge applied to him. To think he's beyond being influenced by intimately wielding emotion-dense qi was hubris on his part. His control was great, but not infinite and he wasn't able to stay entirely separate from that negative energy's influence when it counted.

That is entirely his fault.

What happened was Wei WuXian's very human and very predictable loss of control under resentful energy's influence. He'd thought himself beyond that because he'd always excelled in everything he did and he was being careful in his creation of his new path, but he did have limits.

That was his arrogance. Thinking he could every have complete control in all situations.

He was under suspicion from a lot of sides: eventually someone was going to make an attack on him and it wasn't always going to be a neat situation he would be emotionally stable for. Thinking that in every situation he would have perfect control over resentful energy and nothing bad would happen was arrogant.

Being proven wrong about that and growing from it to be a more complete master of his cultivation is a big part of his growth.

Post-resurrection Wei WuXian will NEVER have another Jin ZiXuan type death on his hands because he learned the hard lessons in his limits and control the first time.

Shoving it all onto other people's actions takes something vital from his inner journey.

Did you really think Wei Wuxian would still be 100% in control in the same situation if he still had Golden Core? Like you still think he would not accidentally harm Jin Zixuan despite being in a very stressful situation with 300 hundred motherfuckers trying to kill him while this one dumbass telling him to stop attacking???

Exactly. The problem was never about Wei Wuxian's cultivation or his control over it. Even if Wei Wuxian still had his Golden Core and was using his sword, Jin Zixuan would still be stabbed to death by Wei Wuxian's sword. Why? Because Wei Wuxian was only trying to defend himself. Tell me, is he wrong for doing so?

Also, OP, I have mentioned this before, ghost cultivation has no effect on Wei Wuxian. He was never affected by the use of resentment. Resentful energy and spiritual energy are just energy. This was already established in the Cloud Recesses Arc. Wei Wuxian's emotions are all his own. They aren't some byproduct of his cultivation. I think OP has been influenced by the Untamed too much. In the Untamed, Wei Wuxian's emotions are affected by the resentful energy, but this is not the case in the novel. Can you show me an example from the novel that states that Wei Wuxian was negatively affected by his cultivation? I'm afraid OP doesn't fully understand the nature of Wei Wuxian's ghost cultivation. Wei Wuxian is never affected by the resentful energy he uses. And that's because he doesn't absorb resentful energy (compared to the Nie cultivation), he REDIRECTS it. Hence the example with Yu the Great in the Cloud Recesses Arc. Resentful energy is merely energy Wei Wuxian uses. It's just like spiritual energy, a tool. Just like any sword or sabre. Resentful energy doesn't harm his health, his mind, or his heart, as Lan Wangji once assumed. This is why Lan Wangji has no issues with Wei Wuxian using his cultivation in his 2nd life.

Back to the topic at hand, Wei Wuxian is angry because he came to the banquet and the very people who invited him went to ambush him and the one person (Jin Zixuan) who could deescalate the situation did nothing about it and told Wei Wuxian to put down his weapon instead of the 300 archers aiming at him. Why wouldn't he be angry and upset? If it was any other character like Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue, or Lan Wangji in this situation, they would react the same way as well, ghost cultivation or not. Will OP also blame them for losing control? For getting angry and upset at how unfair the situation is? For protecting themselves with the only tools that they have at hand (be it a sword, blade, whip, or ghost cultivation)?

I think OP is severely underestimating the situation at Qiongqi Path. Wei Wuxian was invited to Jin Ling's 100th day anniversary. On the way there, he was ambushed by Jin Zixuan's cousin and 300 archers, aiming to kill him right there and then. They cleared the area of corpses so that Wei Wuxian would have absolutely NO means of defending himself. Wei Wuxian is only human. All it takes is one arrow through his heart to kill him. There are 300 arrows and more aiming for him. That is how dire the situation is! This is why Wei Wuxian CAN NOT call Wen Ning to back down because if he did, he'd become a human porcupine. In this scenario, tell me, who has the most control here and who doesn't? Who is to blame here?

Now, moving on, Jin Zixuan later on arrives at the scene. Jin Zixuan is the key to controlling the situation at hand. He has the power and authority to tell Jin Zixun to back off and carefully explain the misunderstanding to Wei Wuxian. But instead of de-escalating the situation, he does the exact opposite. He tells Wei Wuxian to back down instead, NOT the 300 archers. Wei Wuxian naturally gets upset and even more tense (this is literally a normal reaction for anyone, btw, any other character in mdzs would feel this way). Why should Wei Wuxian back down when there are 300 people ready to kill him? He doesn't listen to Jin Zixuan, and Jin Zixuan gets angry. Then Jin Zixuan lunges at Wei Wuxian to stop him, and Wei Wuxian, trying to defend himself, kills Jin Zixuan. Who is to blame here? Who attacked who first? Who started it?

Wei Wuxian said that he had control, and he DID! Wei Wuxian wasn't lying when he said this. But OP has to understand that he said this BEFORE the Qiongqi Path incident. How can you expect Wei Wuxian to predict such a thing could happen to him? He's not some guy who can see through the future and prepare for every single horrible event that's going to happen to him. As OP has said, he's only human, after all. He, along with every single person, can not have full control over anything! Yes, his reputation was horrible, and yes, he knew that there were plenty of people who wanted him dead. This is why I said before that Wei Wuxian's only mistake was trusting the cultivation world too much. He put too much faith in the Jins' word that he could arrive at the banquet without any repercussions. And THAT was his mistake! (This is going off topic, but this was also Lan Wangji’s mistake. He thought that the cultivation world would keep their word once Wen Qing and Wen Ning surrendered themselves, and he was unfortunately proven wrong. This is why Lan Wangji does things on his own after Wei Wuxian's death. He never relied on the gentry too much after that one incident.) How can you say Wei Wuxian should have 100% control over his cultivation and then say that he's only human? Isn't that a little contradictory?

I want to ask OP this. If it was any other character, be it Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji, Nie Mingjue, or just any other character in this situation. Would you hold them to such a standard? Would you find them guilty for losing control? Instead of Wei Wuxian, try to imagine if Jiang Cheng was the one who killed Jin Zixuan with Zidian. Would you find Jiang Cheng guilty for losing control? Jin Zixuan was coming at him with a sword in his hand and with a furious expression. Jiang Cheng was only trying to protect himself. Let's say if it was Lan Wangji. If Lan Wangji extended his sword to stab Jin Zixuan because Jin Zixuan lunged at him. Is Lan Wangji guilty for doing so? Are both of them at fault for "losing control?" For killing Jin Zixuan, even if it was the last thing they wanted to do? I would not fault any of them for their actions, nor would I find them guilty of it. Even if they were very, very skilled cultivators who have survived the war and have very powerful golden cores, they couldn't have predicted what was going to happen, so why would I fault them for losing control? Why would I find them guilty for not controlling their weapons properly and for not having 100% control of the situation despite being experienced cultivators from the Sunshot Campaign?

What I am trying to say here is that it doesn't matter who is being ambushed or what kind of weapon or cultivation they use. The point I'm trying to make here is that ANYONE, in this scenario, would have tried to defend themselves and avoid being killed in a literal ambush. ANYONE in this situation would have been beyond stressed, upset, and angry. ANYONE would have accidentally hurt Jin Zixuan because of how enormously stupid he acted towards the person being ambushed.

The problem was never about Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning. The problem was Jin Zixun, Jin Zixuan, and the 300 archers. How is a person wrong and guilty for defending himself and for not having control of a situation they never expected to happen??

"Wei Wuxian is more cautious of his ghost path in his second life." The same Wei Wuxian who summoned three fierce corpses within 48 hours of his resurrection to fight a ghost arm? The same Wei Wuxian who directly after this event went grave-digging to scrounge up some ghosts to put into talismans for later use? The same Wei Wuxian who plunges into Empathy with A-Qing despite seeing how horribly she must have died? The same Wei Wuxian who casually summons a corpse to ask it for directions????

I don't think there's a single moment in his second life where his first instinct is to use the orthodox path for anything. He even only accidentally used Siubian because he didn't have a physical body to defend himself with against Jin Guangyao in the hidden chamber. The next time he intentionally uses his sword, it's to cut up a melon.

I'll take this one step further: people who say that Lan Wangji was "right" about the ghost path and "Wei Wuxian understands this now," why does Lan Wangji drop the subject? It can't be because Wei Wuxian uses it less, as we literally see that not be the case. It can't be because he accepts that Wei Wuxian has "self-harming tendencies," because he gets visibly upset and admonishes Wei Wuxian for taking on Jin Ling's curse mark, even though it was non-lethal to him. Lan Wangji can be upset about the curse mark but not about a cultivation style "he believes" is slowly poisoning his beloved and will lead him to a slow and painful death? And before anyone comes with the "well Lan Wangji learns to stop being rigid about rules!" take, 1) Lan Wangji was never an unquestioning follower of the rules, 2) there is not "rule" in the cultivation world against the use of resentful energy (once again, THE NIE EXIST), and 3) why would him no longer caring about the rules make him ok watching a loved one die a completely preventable death? Wei Wuxian has a new golden core, he is a skilled fighter even without one, and Lan Wangji can protect him besides, so what would motivate him to condone Wei Wuxian's flagrant use of the ghost path and teach the juniors about it while he's at it other than the fact that he now understands that there's nothing inherently dangerous about it when used correctly?

Going out on a limb to guess that some people might have begun to equate Wei Wuxian admitting he might’ve gone too far when getting his revenge against Wen Chao & co with the usual “gui dao is bad” lies that got perpetuated with the existence of the adaptations. And ignoring that the previous statement was about revenge, not the tool he used. Plus a general mix of both ignorance of how the genre tropes work (all that spitting blood) creating headcanon. And finally (totally admitting to this one) mixing up the adaptations with the source and being too damn lazy to check.

I think a lot of people go into the story believing it’s supposed to be a redemption arc and leave it never understanding that the story is tricking us as much as the title is. Wei Wuxian wasn’t a demonic cultivator nor did he create it. His story is not a redemption, it’s a vindication. Wei Wuxian going, “wow, maybe i went too far. I was sooooo pretentious as a teen/young adult,” is a red herring for us as the readers who don’t know yet why he did any of that. We spend most of the novel bumbling through why tf Wei Wuxian seems to have lost his mind and, just like Lan Wangji, settle on “trauma” or “resentful energy” broke him, only to discover that it was actually all an act to make sure nobody discovered his biggest secret (and also, the rest of the world was corrupt and describing his most mundane actions in the most negative light, anyways.)

Adaptation mixup as it’s own thing is definitely true, though. People muddying the waters of what originates from what source has made for a lot of unpleasant novel discourse.

Gosh that post just irritated the hell out of me. The irony of that post said how Wei Ying was arrogant in his use of the ghost path and paid the consequences of overusing resentful energy, wHIcH mADe hiM "hUmAn" while still dehumanized him by thinking Wei Ying would still in control in every single stressful situation, especially if he still had Golden Core and used the orthodox cultivation... Sorry, but they are really delulu to think Wei Ying wouldn't accidentally harm a certain dumbass if he used the spiritual energy... Fuck, the set up of the ambush at Qiongqi Path would still result in a number of people's death, regardless of the types of cultivation that Wei Ying used to defend himself.

I honestly feel like that guy is mixing things up too much for anything to make sense. The guy clearly doesn't understand how ghost cultivation and resentful energy work (courtesy of the Untamed). Not only that, that guy is making up all these excuses on how Wei Wuxian should have controlled himself better in that specific situation (which is honestly ridiculous, how on earth would wwx know what would happen and predict how to react to such a situation?? Out of everyone in Qiongqi Path, it is Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun who had the most power to control the situation, NOT Wei Wuxian).

The point is that ANYONE, regardless of who they are or what cultivation they use, would have reacted badly to such a situation. I would not fault anyone, be it Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue, or Xue Yang, for defending themselves against 300 archers aiming to kill them.

It legit bothers me that in both the donghua and live action drama adaptations of MDZS they go out of the way to make Wei WuXian innocent of Jin ZiXuan's death.

They make it a murder. A plot of someone elses where they just make it look like Wei WuXian did it.

In the drama there's a second demonic flute player nearby controlling Wen Ning.

In the donghua they set up special arrays to make resentful energy pool and focus on Wei WuXian - essentially causing a resentful qi diviation.

The donghua doesn't do it quite to the degree the drama does, but it still shifts blame and fault for Jin ZiXuan's death off him.

And that's wrong for the story.

Wei WuXian thought he had complete control over the resentful energy. That no matter what he'd never have an accident or slip up and that hubris let him walk straight into doing just that.

He got over emotional, over enraged in a fraught, heated moment (as he has the wool ripped off his eyes and realizes the invitation he'd been looking forward to, the reunions and meetings and a good time of food and drink he'd not been able to enjoy for years now was a lie - even if Jiang Yanli and Jin ZiXuan meant it sincerely, no one else in the Jin clan did), and for a moment his control slipped and Wen Ning, who he'd been controlling strikes out blindly at someone who happened to be standing near Wei WuXian.

The influence of the resentful energy gets the better of him and he makes a reflexive kill-strike when he's upset and already in the middle of a fight and realizes too late it's the last and only person on the battlefield he DIDN'T want to hurt and who wasn't even trying to hurt him.

That is so, so, vitally important to his character growth and also his relationship to Lan Wangji.

When he's summoned by Mo Xuanyu, he's a Wei WuXian who now has unfortunately lived-experience to fully understand and comprehend how Lan Wangji supported and tried to help him all along because his warnings came true - over indulging and over relying on resentful energy and over trusting the stability his own, all-too-human emotions and control under it's influence did finally lead to disaster.

There is always a price to pay for reaching too far with resentful energy and Wei WuXian was not an exception like he'd thought he was.

He's fully absorbed that lesson in his 13 years dead and it's part of how he's come to be so at peace and ready for Lan Wangji's love and all the things that are revealed.

Being a blunt instrument that was effected by someone else is Wen Ning's story and arc.

One of Wei WuXian's arcs pre-death is realizing too late and in the worst way possible that his limitations are lower than he thought and taking that away makes him not really Wei WuXian.

Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning did kill Jin Zixuan, BUT it is NOT their fault. You have to understand the context within the situation before judging it.

There's a post that explained this better than I can by @mxtxfanatic.

Jin Zixuan died because he, for some unfathomable reason, decided to LUNGE at Wei Wuxian with his sword while Wei Wuxian was literally being AMBUSHED by his Jin Zixuan's own cousin. Wei Wuxian merely defended himself against Jin Zixuan. He was not at fault for Jin Zixuan's death.

Yes, Wei Wuxian lost control. But why wouldn't he?? Anybody who's being backed into a corner with no way out would lose control.

Also, resentment energy has no negative influence on Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian used his ghost cultivation in his 2nd life with no issues whatsoever. That means the only reason he "lost control" was because other people or extenuating circumstances forced him to. Contrary to belief, there is no issue with Wei Wuxian's ghost cultivation. Wei Wuxian was never "corrupted" by resentful energy, nor did it negatively impact him.

The only reason Lan Wangji had an issue with it was because Lan Wangji merely ASSUMED Wei Wuxian's changed appearance and mood was because of his new cultivation, when it was actually because of PTSD from the events that happened to Wei Wuxian before (Massacre of Lotus Pier, Golden Core Transfer, and the Burial Mounds) Lan Wangji later on learned that his assumption was wrong, THAT'S why he has no issue with Wei Wuxian using his ghost cultivation in Wei Wuxian's second life.

The only mistake Wei Wuxian made was trusting the people who invited him to the banquet. He thought that they would keep their word, and boy, was he wrong.

Jin Zixuan arrived at the scene of the ambush where his cousin had been attacking his guest (with 300 archers), and instead of doing the reasonable thing - which would be to get his cousin to stop attacking his guest - he decided he would demand his guest stop defending himself and and follow him back to the Jin Sect.

Any person with a drop of self awareness would know that wasn't going to work. For one, Wei Wuxian couldn't stop defending himself because he'd die if he did. And he sure as hell wouldn't follow Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun back to the Jin sect after being ambushed and attacked after accepting Jin Zixuan's personal invitation to attend Jin Ling's 100 day celebration. The whole thing stank of a ploy to capture and kill Wei Wuxian, and Jin Zixuan lacked the tact and diplomacy to navigate this kind of delicate situation.

The thing is, Jin Zixuan was raised spoiled and entitled, and by this I don't mean he was a horrible person, but he certainly was used to being respected as an authority figure, and that's how he approached Wei Wuxian. I'm sure the fact Jin Zixuan was a sect heir while Wei Wuxian was the son of a servant played into this, because I don't think Jin Zixuan would have acted the same had Wei Wuxian been someone of higher status. But also, Jin Zixuan was used to protecting his cousin. Jin Zixun has a long history of deplorable behavior and Jin Zixuan has witnessed some of that, but has never done much about it. And it would be Jin Zixuan's responsibility to do something about his cousin's recurring bad behavior because Jin Zixuan is the sect heir. But the sects, and the Jin sect more so than most, are structured around nepotism, which is why a member of the Jin clan like Jin Zixun gets to act like a tyrant and a bully, and continually gets away with it. Anyway, all of this explains why Jin Zixuan acts the way he does when he arrives at the scene of the ambush. It's also why Jin Guangyao planned to get Jin Zixuan killed this way: he understood what kind of people Jin Zixun and Jin Zixuan were and how they would act in the situation to figure out that Jin Zixuan didn't have the tact and diplomacy to settle it peacefully.

Then when we get to Jin Zixuan's actions at the scene of the ambush, it becomes obvious that he was in way over his head and had no clue what he was doing.

Jin Zixuan found Jin Zixun with his 300 archers attacking Wei Wuxian, and Wei Wuxian defending himself with Wen Ning - and let's not forget that he only had Wen Ning to defend himself with because Jin Zixun had previously removed all other sources of resentful energy from the area. And remember that Jin Zixuan went there knowing it was his cousin who had set the trap. But Jin Zixuan didn't get his cousin and the archers to back down and instead decided to try to get Wei Wuxian, the one being attacked, to back down instead. And to follow him back to the Jin Sect to verify whether he was guilty of cursing Jin Zixun - some random dude Wei Wuxian didn't even remember. To Wei Wuxian it of course looked like a trap, and it looked like Jin Zixuan was involved in it. He was invited there, got attacked and now was being told he'd be tried for a crime he didn't commit by a group of people who were openly hostile towards him - one of them currently in the process of attempting to murder him.

And yet, Wei Wuxian told Jin Zixuan that he wouldn't back down, and that he wouldn't attack him, but that he shouldn't come closer because if he did he would die. And what did Jin Zixuan do? He lunged at Wei Wuxian with his sword pointed at Wei Wuxian's face - now, we know he meant to disarm Wei Wuxian, not kill him. But Wei Wuxian didn't have the ability to read minds so he couldn't have known, and it was in the middle of a battle. Wei Wuxian was focused on defending himself, on surviving. Of course he wasn't completely in control. But the point is that he warned Jin Zixuan he'd die if he approached him. And Jin Zixuan ignored his warning in the stupidest possible way.

Like, after claiming he wasn't part of the ambush and that Wei Wuxian could trust him, he then proceeded to lunge at him with a sword. Not very diplomatic.

Wei Wuxian didn't mean to kill him even then. He had warned him, but his warning wasn't taken seriously. It wasn't Wei Wuxian's moral failure that killed Jin Zixuan, it was the Jin sect's moral failure, their very lacking upbringing, and Jin Zixuan's own moral failure that caused his death.

These are already some good responses. I would just like to ask: if the lesson of Wei Wuxian’s first life is restraint while dealing with resentful energy, then where is the evidence of this restraint? I agree that we lose something from the story with the adaptations due to them trying to make Wei Wuxian innocent of Jin Zixuan’s death, but I think that the thing we lose—rather than being the idea that “ghost path is bad”—is that Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning still did that and must bear the consequences. And they do: Wen Ning takes his sister to sacrifice themselves on Wei Wuxian’s behalf as the Jin demanded of them for recompense! They kept their word, but the rest of the cultivation world did not. The so-called righteous clans are the scummiest people in the novel.

If Wei Wuxian carried anything away from that ambush, it was that he should not trust people to follow their word based on them being popular with/supported by the masses. Probably why, despite Jin Guangyao having such a good reputation and Wei Wuxian having no bad experiences with the guy, he doesn’t hesitate to name him as the prime suspect of Nie Mingjue’s murder. Wei Wuxian trusted the word of Jin Zixuan to protect him, and it les him to an ambush. Jin Zixuan trusted his cousin and it got him killed: “Civility” and “vouching for people” means nothing in a world where wealth buys you innocence and connections, the benefit of the doubt.

Also, nothing about Wei Wuxian’s use of resentful energy prevented he and Lan Wangji from getting together in his first life. These two spent most of the time they knew each other fighting for their lives in a war, and by the time they’d finally gotten back to civil conversation, Wei Wuxian was in exile protecting labor camp escapees whose blood everyone else in the world was baying for. There’s not a chance in hell either of them would’ve accepted a romance under those conditions.

It legit bothers me that in both the donghua and live action drama adaptations of MDZS they go out of the way to make Wei WuXian innocent of Jin ZiXuan's death.

They make it a murder. A plot of someone elses where they just make it look like Wei WuXian did it.

In the drama there's a second demonic flute player nearby controlling Wen Ning.

In the donghua they set up special arrays to make resentful energy pool and focus on Wei WuXian - essentially causing a resentful qi diviation.

The donghua doesn't do it quite to the degree the drama does, but it still shifts blame and fault for Jin ZiXuan's death off him.

And that's wrong for the story.

Wei WuXian thought he had complete control over the resentful energy. That no matter what he'd never have an accident or slip up and that hubris let him walk straight into doing just that.

He got over emotional, over enraged in a fraught, heated moment (as he has the wool ripped off his eyes and realizes the invitation he'd been looking forward to, the reunions and meetings and a good time of food and drink he'd not been able to enjoy for years now was a lie - even if Jiang Yanli and Jin ZiXuan meant it sincerely, no one else in the Jin clan did), and for a moment his control slipped and Wen Ning, who he'd been controlling strikes out blindly at someone who happened to be standing near Wei WuXian.

The influence of the resentful energy gets the better of him and he makes a reflexive kill-strike when he's upset and already in the middle of a fight and realizes too late it's the last and only person on the battlefield he DIDN'T want to hurt and who wasn't even trying to hurt him.

That is so, so, vitally important to his character growth and also his relationship to Lan Wangji.

When he's summoned by Mo Xuanyu, he's a Wei WuXian who now has unfortunately lived-experience to fully understand and comprehend how Lan Wangji supported and tried to help him all along because his warnings came true - over indulging and over relying on resentful energy and over trusting the stability his own, all-too-human emotions and control under it's influence did finally lead to disaster.

There is always a price to pay for reaching too far with resentful energy and Wei WuXian was not an exception like he'd thought he was.

He's fully absorbed that lesson in his 13 years dead and it's part of how he's come to be so at peace and ready for Lan Wangji's love and all the things that are revealed.

Being a blunt instrument that was effected by someone else is Wen Ning's story and arc.

One of Wei WuXian's arcs pre-death is realizing too late and in the worst way possible that his limitations are lower than he thought and taking that away makes him not really Wei WuXian.

Wei Wuxian and Wen Ning did kill Jin Zixuan, BUT it is NOT their fault. You have to understand the context within the situation before judging it.

There's a post that explained this better than I can by @mxtxfanatic.

Jin Zixuan died because he, for some unfathomable reason, decided to LUNGE at Wei Wuxian with his sword while Wei Wuxian was literally being AMBUSHED by his Jin Zixuan's own cousin. Wei Wuxian merely defended himself against Jin Zixuan. He was not at fault for Jin Zixuan's death.

Yes, Wei Wuxian lost control. But why wouldn't he?? Anybody who's being backed into a corner with no way out would lose control.

Also, resentment energy has no negative influence on Wei Wuxian. Wei Wuxian used his ghost cultivation in his 2nd life with no issues whatsoever. That means the only reason he "lost control" was because other people or extenuating circumstances forced him to. Contrary to belief, there is no issue with Wei Wuxian's ghost cultivation. Wei Wuxian was never "corrupted" by resentful energy, nor did it negatively impact him.

The only reason Lan Wangji had an issue with it was because Lan Wangji merely ASSUMED Wei Wuxian's changed appearance and mood was because of his new cultivation, when it was actually because of PTSD from the events that happened to Wei Wuxian before (Massacre of Lotus Pier, Golden Core Transfer, and the Burial Mounds) Lan Wangji later on learned that his assumption was wrong, THAT'S why he has no issue with Wei Wuxian using his ghost cultivation in Wei Wuxian's second life.

The only mistake Wei Wuxian made was trusting the people who invited him to the banquet. He thought that they would keep their word, and boy, was he wrong.

“Throughout all these years, in my eyes, he has always been… enduring his suffer, caring for all people, treating everyone with respect.”

Lan Xichen exhibiting real loser behavior, here, cause that “in my eyes” is very telling. Nie Mingjue been telling you for how long that this man was a snake in the grass and a gleeful murderer? You watched him destroy whole sects to appease his need for “vengeance” how many times? But you can sit here and say “in my eyes” he’s a good person? So nobody else’s knowledge of a person matters as long as it contradicts what you want to believe? Loser behavior

I’ve seen a lot of metas analyze the Madam Lan backstory as having to say something about lan wangji (and I’ve lowkey disagreed), but now that I’ve read this scene for myself and knowing it’s coming off THIS scene? I’m certain that how it’s actually supposed to be viewed is about what it reveals about lan xichen as a person. Lxc has a worldview that has stressed being righteous and upholding justice, but he also cannot accept anything that would shake that worldview and, more importantly, how he judges what is just and righteous. Therefore, he rejects the words of his closest friends and family, even if they’re provable, and he doesn’t seek out the truth about situations himself (such as what really happened with his mother) because he’s afraid that it’ll change how he sees the world and that he will have to change his view of those around him, in response (and also, maybe, that his idea of justice and righteousness are flawed and that neither those he admires nor he, himself, can claim either of those traits). Lwj is seen as the one who followed after lan qiren the closest, but i think that it’s actually lxc.

Forgot to add, but lxc only cares about seeing this investigation through because it’s no longer a problem he can categorize as “someone else’s,” like, he’s literally an accessory to murder, and not any old murder (since he had no issue with any of the multiple clan massacres) but his own sworn brother/childhood friend/fellow sect leader’s murder. If the body belonged to anyone but nie mingjue, he would not care and would simply choose to stay out of it with a smile. “San-ge has his reasons” and all, right?

“All the MXTX tops want to be bottoms” “they’re all switches” y’all are wrong, and more importantly y’all are BORING

Lan Wangji is a stone top, Xie Lian and Shen Qingqiu are pillow princesses (Xie Lian in a body worship way, Shen Qingqiu in a starfishing way. I’m not elaborating), Wei Wuxian is submissive and breedable, Hua Cheng is a service top, and Luo Binghe has a power bottom in his heart yearning to break free. No I don’t take constructive criticism.

idk. i think fandom could use a lot less of “every person’s interpretation of a text is valid and true!” and more of “reading a text means taking all parts of it into account, including the bits you don’t like or the pairings you don’t ship, to consider what the full picture is and what the larger themes are.”

projecting your fantasies onto a text, hyperfocusing on the characters you think are hot/shippable and building entire theories based on micro interactions that don’t take other competing dynamics and plotlines into account isn’t “analysis” it’s projection and fantasy. which is fine, but take responsibility for your desires and your fantasies instead of making fandom inhospitable for everyone. some readings of a text are plain wrong, others miss or willfully erase vital context just to rationalize romantic pairings. these are not accurate readings of the text. doesn’t mean they should be attacked or shamed, but neither can you expect people to validate every single headcanon and shipper fantasy as a legitimate “reading” of the text either.

one underrated moment of wei wuxian’s impeccable quick-thinking is when wen chao’s contemplating the torture and murder of wei wuxian and wwx is like *fresh* out of an unspeakably painful surgery and a highly traumatic experience, tired and exhausted and beyond the limits of any human to be coherent of thought and yet, he expertly uses wen chao’s inherent cowardice against him by suggesting that he will turn into a vengeful ghost and haunt him and even as he’s simulataneously coming to terms with his possible fate, his move does pay off because he gets into wen chao’s head and throws him off-balance. in a very roundabout way, just that verbal maneuver alone ended up saying his life.

for me, nothing at all changes about jiang cheng’s end-of-canon circumstances by the reveal that he distracted the guards that led to his capture by the wens after the lotus pier attack and the reason for it is simple: you can’t be redeemed by something you did before you committed your wrongdoing. the change of character and growth needs to happen after you fucked up. his prior “good” choices/“heroic” acts do NOT make him a better person in hindsight because he went ahead and acted like a piece of shit later on, anyway. it’s like saying a murderer should be pardoned because they saved a bird from dying ten years ago or that they donated to charity that one time, “omg look they had a good heart <3”. even the text treats it like this afterthought, contextually, because by the time any of it would be revealed—it’d have been way too late for anything to change. a history of violence and hate cannot be erased nor reduced by an action taken in good faith (if not good sense) before this history ever began.

redemption happens as a response to your choices in the aftermath of your fuck-ups (or in some cases, the narrative effectively nullifies the wrongdoing itself which leads to a blank slate/redemption; but that is NOT the case with jc), not as callback from the distant past when you were perhaps a less shitty person. many think jc revealing this “secret” would be significant in some way. but... how exactly would you expect wei wuxian to react to this revelation? show gratitude after jc’s choice inevitably led to the loss of his golden core? be happy that his once-buddy cared for him before jc contributed to his death and the death of the wens and the death of countless other innocents? imagine someone once close to you lied and betrayed your trust and say, framed you wrongfully so you got jailed. later, they recount how they kicked your bully in the balls when you were both in school. okay...? how the FUCK does that change anything? you are STILL in jail?

jc’s prior good will means nothing after the bridges he’s burned to the ground, burying them twenty feet under. and he knows this. he knows that revealing the truth will make no dents. wei wuxian won’t have a better view of him just because of it. jiang cheng’s actions do not gain a softer edge. the redeeming action has to come after the tragedies he has helped with and participated in. he’s not magically a better person with this context. he’s just as who he was before. because what we are evaluating his morals on was not his supposed love/care for wei wuxian but his actions. his violence. his hatred that targetted people unjustly. these do not change. these don’t go away. these should not go away. these should not be as easy to go away. that’s all.

To even suggest that Jiang Cheng could be redeemed and forgiven by Wei Wuxian by revealing how he got captured is also pure wishful thinking. Jiang Cheng finds out about the golden core exchange and the first thing he does after crying about why Wei Wuxian didn’t tell him is grill him about whether the exchange can count towards the deaths of his family that he blames Wei Wuxian for despite Wei Wuxian not causing them. How Jiang Cheng lost his golden core is an afterthought even to himself, but to then bring it up after having tried to treat Wei Wuxian’s golden core like an exchange token, how is Wei Wuxian supposed to look at him after that? His one unselfish action being made into a tit-for-tat.

Nothing changes because nothing has changed. Jiang Cheng did one good in secret and then made his allegiance to evil loud and public for over 13 years. No matter how much his stans and general fandom wishes it, the capture reveal is simply not Jiang Cheng’s A-Yuan reveal moment.

Not to mention, Jiang Cheng’s "sacrifice" isn't even that great once you realize he doesn't even want to claim responsibility for it.

If Jiang Cheng really made the decision to sacrifice himself for Wei Wuxian, why wasn't he willing to live with the consequences of said sacrifice? He just made his sacrifice into a problem for Wei Wuxian to fix. It's not a sacrifice if Jiang Cheng refuses to bear the burden. Sounds to me like losing his core was something he did not expect. He probably overestimated himself when he went to distract the guards.